Hands-down one of the most beautiful books of the year.' -NPR Beloved author Aimee Nezhukumatathil's celebrated work of nonfiction, now including additional essays and illustrations. As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted-no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape-she was able to turn to our world's fierce and funny creatures for guidance. 'What the peacock can do,' she tells us, 'is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life.' The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world's gifts. Warm, lyrical, and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, is a book of sustenance and joy.